Lafayette

Lafayette is a beautiful city located on the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the fourth largest city in the state. The city of Lafayette is noted for its high quality of life with top rated schools, low crime rate, small town downtown, clean air, mild climate and oak tree-studded hills. The city of Lafayette Louisiana is of course a visit worthy locale for millions.

The city of Lafayette was founded by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean Mouton as Vermilionville in 1821. It was renamed in 1884 for the Marquis de Lafayette, who assisted the United States during its Revolutionary War. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industry became dominant. The city is also home to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, whose early name was University of Southwestern Louisiana.

Lafayette is a commercial, shipping, and medical center in Louisiana. The city has fertile soil that produces sugarcane, rice, cotton, dairy cattle, livestock, and petroleum. Some of the major manufactures include apparel, jewelry, and building materials. The Heymann Oil Center is headquarters for several oil companies. Boom in the area's oil and natural gas contributed to the initiation of new businesses to the city in the 1980s and 90s resulting in a large population increase.

The city of Lafayette Louisiana has a strong tourism industry, attracted by the Cajun and Creole cultures of the surrounding region. The city hosts the annual Festival de Musique Acadienne, Festivals Acadiens, and the annual Festival International de Louisiane. The city has many points of interest like St. John's Cathedral (1916), a Carmelite monastery, a planetarium, natural history and children's museums, and the Cajun Dome stadium. It also has one of the highest restaurant counts per capita of cities in the area.